New iOS Games This Week: August 28, 2014

It’s another heavy week for new iPhone and iPad games, with several big-name releases intermingling with intriguing indies. A port of BioShock brings the classic console and PC shooter to iOS, plus Madden NFL Mobile takes another shot at freemium football and Tiny Tower Vegas adds gambling to its addictive sim concoction — and don’t overlook the promising Nightmare Cooperative.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest first-person shooters of all time (and a mainstay on our 25 Best Mac Games Today list), BioShock ($14.99, universal) makes the surprising leap to iPhone and iPad today. It’s set in the underwater dystopian city of Rapture, which provides plenty of terror and an intriguing tale as you unravel its downfall, make tough decisions, and soak in the rich narrative.

If the licensed fan service of last year’s Star Wars: Tiny Death Star wasn’t your thing, perhaps Tiny Tower Vegas (free, universal) will satisfy your urge to build an epic skyscraper and fill it with busy bitizens. More of a true sequel to the original smash, Vegas pumps in some fresh flair via the addition of casino floors (Dino Poker!) and even casino mini-games to play along the way.

Lucky Frame is the team behind truly inventive iOS fare like Bad Hotel and Wave Trip, so we’re already sold on The Nightmare Cooperative (free, universal) just by reputation. This dungeon crawler sees you guiding a team (that moves in unison) through a surely brutal series of challenges — colorfully rendered with cartoonish sheen — giving it a puzzle/roguelike kind of feel. Looks really great!

Madden NFL Mobile (free, universal) is back after last year’s freemium debacle, and while it’s still a free-to-play affair, EA has pulled back the reins a bit and delivered a less limited-feeling experience. It’s again designed around Ultimate Team, letting you build and customize a squad using player cards, with season games, ever-updated challenges, and asynchronous online multiplayer included.

Season two of Telltale’s Walking Dead: The Game ($4.99, universal) comes to a close with this week’s release of episode five ($4.99 in-app purchase), which surely sees young Clementine making some agonizing decisions as she tries to survive amidst the zombie uprising. If last season’s clincher is any indication, it’ll be a gut-wrenching couple of hours. Good luck out there.

Back to Bed ($3.99, universal) sure looks a ton like the wonderful Monument Valley from earlier this year, but this past student project apparently predates ustwo’s game. Whatever the case, we sure are taken by the gorgeous M.C. Escher-inspired levels, which see you navigating optical illusions to guide a sleepwalking man to the comfort and safety of his bed. Could be another satisfyingly brainy puzzler.

It’s been a year and a half since The Journey Down got off to a great start on IOS, and The Journey Down: Chapter Two ($4.99, universal) continues the Caribbean-influenced adventure as a new standalone app. The point-and-click style quest sees Bwana and his comrades on the run from pirates in a gorgeous and mysterious new city, and fans will surely be excited to resume the tale.

Walking Dead fans get a double dose this week with the release of The Walking Dead Pinball ($1.99, universal) from the folks behind the excellent Zen Pinball — and the table available in this standalone app can also be purchased within Zen Pinball proper. It’s actually based on the episodic game series, not specifically the show or comic, and features memorable locales from the adventure.

Alien Creeps TD (free, universal) brings some slick futuristic sheen to the tower defense genre, letting you mow down the titular beasts with an array of robotic towers and technology. Granted, free-to-play is always a tricky approach for tower defense, and there are a lot of different in-app purchases available in this one. But it’s from the same developer as the great Monster Legacy, so we’re hopeful.